Timbers, Sounders U-23s square off at Doc Harris

When the Portland Timbers under-23 team battles the Seattle Sounders under-23s on Saturday at Doc Harris Stadium in Camas, it will be a soccer homecoming for five players on the Timbers U23s roster.

Niko De Vera, Anthony Macchione, Foster Langsdorf, Peter Prescott and Collin Partee are Clark County natives on the Timbers under-23 roster this summer — and each might see the field for this match according to coach Brett Jacobs.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $7.

Jacobs, who took over as the under-23s coach a month ago, is also the men’s soccer coach for Clark College and the technical director for the Washington Timbers youth soccer club. He stepped in when Jim Rilatt departed in late May after serving into the club’s eighth season.

Jacobs, a Vancouver resident, said he is enjoying the challenge of coaching a group of current college players.

Part of that challenge is building cohesion on a team with players from a variety of colleges and a roster with players arriving and leaving throughout the season depending upon their college schedules. But the players are competing hard for playing time according to Jacobs.

The five players from Clark County on the Timbers U-23s roster played for the Timbers Youth Academy before heading to college two years ago.

De Vera has played regularly at fullback this summer. He and forward Macchione are entering their junior year at Akron University. Midfielder Foster Langsdorf, a Mountain View High graduate, contributed for Stanford’s NCAA championship team last fall. Prescott, a Mountain View graduate, plays at Creighton. Partee, a goalkeeper who graduated from Union High, plays at Utah Valley.